Welsh must prove their worth

Wales head coach Gareth Jenkins laid down the challenge to his side for their match against Canada - 'Convince me you deserve to face the All Blacks'.

Jenkins has made 13 changes following last weekend's victory over the Pacific Islands, returning largely to the first-choice side which drew 29-29 with Australia on the opening weekend of November.

"When we select the side to play New Zealand it will be what I think is our best team. It will be a statement selection," Jenkins said. "This is an incentive selection. This team has got to challenge itself, because of the performance of last week's selection against the Pacific Islands."

The only tactical switch for Friday has been to include the in-form Mark Jones on the wing and move Gareth Thomas, who will captain the side, to full-back in place of the unfortunate Kevin Morgan.

James Hook starts at fly-half, after Stephen Jones failed to recover from knee ligament damage in time.

Jenkins added: "The pressure on this team to perform on Friday is as much from within the squad as from Canada.

"There could be three or four or five different selections for the New Zealand game. The pressure is on this team to impress.

"This set of players get a second opportunity to play, knowing the boys in their positions played well last week. This is part of the process going towards that All Blacks selection."